Atul Gupta, one of the controversial Gupta brothers whose relationship with former president Jacob Zuma and senior figures in the state and its enterprises was central to the ‘state capture’ narrative, has approached the courts to compel the director-general of home affairs to issue him a new passport.
The Gupta family is currently resident in Dubai, to which they moved in 2018. South Africa has been seeking their extradition.
The Guptas were naturalized South African citizens (the circumstances of this was itself the subject of a recent report by the Public Protector, which recommended sanctions against officials involved in this).
Atul Gupta said that he had made an application for a new ‘booklet’ in September 2018, as his current passport – valid until 2025 – was running our of space. Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, minister of home affairs, had said in 2019 that applications for passports from the Guptas would not be processed, and that the application was ‘in a safe’.
Gupta argued that the minister was in ‘direct violation of his constitutional duties’. The minister had no right to intervene in the issuing of a passport; this duty was reserved for the director-general alone.
He was not in violation of any provision for receiving a passport, and wanted the courts to compel the director-general to issue one.
He noted that comments from the minister seemed to indicate that the refusal to issue a passport would undermine his ability to travel and do business, and that this was a violation of his right to free movement. He added that no charges had been laid against him and that he considered it unlikely that any would.